Kerry Pither

I’ve received a number of inquiries about the Arar Commission web site — which used to be consistently available on the Library and Archives Canada site by clicking on the old URL — www.ararcommission.ca. Now, click on that, and you get some strange financial services company…

I contacted Library and Archives about this, and they are looking into what’s happened to their archived links and the URL. In the meantime, they were able to find the archived site, and all the Inquiry’s reports, recommendations, transcripts and other documents on the Privy Council Office web site here.

As today’s Globe and Mail editorial points out, the new Royal Canadian Mounted Police Review and Complaints Commission created by Act C-38 falls far short of what Arar Inquiry Commissioner Dennis O’Connor recommended back in December 2006.

Note to readers: I am looking into why the Arar Commission’s web site seems to be no longer available on the National Archives site. In the meantime, click here for a pdf of the Arar Commission’s report and recommendations on oversight.

If he were, we might be able to believe that he’s been holding back on issuing a formal apology to Maher Arar — as called for by the New York Times on the day Obama came to Canada — because the case was before the courts.

If he were, he’d read today’s decision by the US Supreme Court and immediately move to ensure his administration public takes responsibility for its role in sending Arar to be tortured, and invite him to the White House for a formal and public in-person apology.

And if he were, he’d use the occasion to announce the launch of a full-scale independent and public inquiry into all the other Arars — into the role the CIA and FBI and other US agencies have been, and still are playing, in the rendition, detention and torture of so many others since 9/11.

I, for one, won’t be holding my breath.

Will the legislation being tabled today change anything when it comes to oversight of the RCMP’s national security work? Let’s hope so.

Back in 2002, then-RCMP public complaints commissioner Shirley Heafey spoke out to say that the RCMP was refusing to cooperate with her attempts to investigate the force’s post-9/11 national security investigations. In effect, she said, there was no civilian oversight of the RCMP’s national security work. Turns out that they had a lot to hide at the time — given their now well-documented role in the overseas detention and torture of Canadian citizens wrongfully labeled as security risks.

Heafey’s successor, Paul Kennedy, said much the same thing when testifying before the standing committee on public safety seven years later.

Let’s hope this legislation doesn’t ignore the Arar Inquiry’s recommendations made in December 2006, and supported by a recent public safety committee report, which itself won majority support in a House of Commons vote in December last year.

And lets hope this is just a first step, and that we see follow up on the Arar Commission’s call for an integrated review mechanism for all the agencies engaged in national security work.

The Federal Budget says that “in response to concerns expressed by the public, provinces and territories, parliamentary committees and several major reports, including the Brown Task Force and the O’Connor Commission of Inquiry, the Government is taking action to enhance the independent review of RCMP actions.” $8 million is promised over two years to create “a new civilian independent review and complaints commission for the RCMP.”

If this is truly a response to public concern, parliamentary committees and the Arar Inquiry, why only the RCMP? Human rights and civil liberties organizations, the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security (see its report here), and all three opposition parties have all backed the model called for by the Arar Inquiry: The creation of an integrated system of review with the capacity to review the work of the multitude of agencies involved in national security investigations. Right now, the Canadian Border Services Agency, and Transport Canada have no effective review process. Existing review mechanisms cannot look beyond the agencies they are responsible for — the Security and Intelligence Review Committee, for example, cannot look beyond CSIS, and the RCMP Complaints Commission can’t look beyond the RCMP. The Arar Inquiry recognized that we need a body that can essentially do what it did — look in an integrated way at the many agencies involved in national security work.

The Arar Inquiry released its recommendations in December 2006 — more than three years ago. The government has since stalled on implementing that recommendation, saying it’s waiting for Justice John Major’s report from the Air India inquiry. This simply doesn’t make sense. Two commissions of inquiry into much more recent scandals — first the Arar Inquiry, then the Iacobucci Inquiry — have determined that Canadian agencies played a role in the detention and torture of Canadian citizens. More cases, such as that of Abousfian Abdelrazik, have emerged since. Now, more than nine years after the 9/11 attacks, we have less checks and balances in place, national security agencies have more powers, and anyone needing answers like these men did would have to call for another public inquiry.

Maher Arar, Ahmad El Maati, Abdullah Almalki and Muayyed Nureddin had the courage to stand up to and demand answers from Canada’s intelligence agencies — perhaps Prime Minister Harper can look to their example, and find the courage to stand up to them too.

Justice Minister Rob Nicholson announced in the House of Commons today that he has asked former Supreme Court Justice Frank Iacobucci to decide whether documents relating to the Afghan detainee scandal can be released as ordered by Parliament. It will be interesting to see, given our experience at the Iacobucci Inquiry, what his terms of reference look like, and, importantly, how he interprets them. On October 17, 2009, before Justice Iacobucci released his inquiry report, Amnesty International and other human rights and civil liberties organizations with Intervenor status held a news conference to talk about how flawed that process had been, and released this backgrounder, The “Internal Inquiry” process: Fostering a culture of impunity [pdf].

The Iacobucci Inquiry has revealed yet another way in which the actions of CSIS agents likely contributed to the torture of Canadian citizen Ahmad El Maati.

Inquiry Commissioner Justice Frank Iacobucci Inquiry had hoped to include today’s revelation in its public report released in October 2008, but was forced to fight government claims of national security confidentiality.

The newly released information says that in June 2002, CSIS agents sent a message to Egyptian authorities trying to confirm that El Maati was in detention there, and telling them, among other things not disclosed, that he was involved in a plan to commit a terrorist act in Canada.

Justice Iacobucci has already confirmed that that this allegation was not based on evidence, but on an alleged “confession” obtained earlier from Syrian authorities – a “confession” that Iacobucci says CSIS should have known was likely the product of torture.

Justice Iacobucci criticizes CSIS for failing to take into account the potential consequences of sharing this allegation with the Egyptian authorities for El Maati.

He says once they confirmed El Maati was indeed in Egyptian detention, CSIS continued to communicate with the Egyptians, and sought permission from then CSIS deputy director of operations, Jack Hooper, to travel to Egypt later that year.

Hooper approved the trip, and apparently told the Inquiry that while he did consider the possibility El Maati might be mistreated as a result of the trip, he didn’t think that was likely, and, besides, it was more important to find determine if there really was a threat to Canada.

A list of questions was prepared, “to which it [CSIS] wished to obtain answers,” and the trip went ahead in December 2002.

Justice Iacobucci concludes that the information shared in June 2002, the list of questions, and the trip all likely contributed to El Maati’s mistreatment.

And Justice Iacobucci has already documented how El Maati was subsequently tortured in Egypt – with electric shock to his hands, back and genitals, and sleep deprivation while being subjected to excruciatingly painful stress torture for days on end.

Justice Iacobucci takes CSIS to task for failing to include enquiries about how El Maati was being treated.

But then again, as he confirmed in his report, CSIS had already been informed as early as July 2002 that El Maati had been tortured in Egyptian detention.

What Justice Iacobucci doesn’t tell us is what CSIS did with the questions.

Did the agents hand them over to El Maati’s interrogators? Did the agents witness or participate in any of El Maati’s interrogations? Did they get answers back?

Were there any subsequent trips to Egypt?

Today’s revelations have renewed calls by human rights advocates, and the men whose cases were examined by the Iacobucci Inquiry, for decisive action to ensure that Canada is never again complicit in torture.

“This revelation is particularly disturbing given the expanding powers being awarded to CSIS to act overseas, and the government’s continued refusal to beef up oversight and review not just of CSIS but all agencies involved in national security investigations,” said Warren Allmand, former solicitor general and a spokesperson for the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group.

“It has been more than three years since Justice Dennis O’Connor wrapped up the Arar Inquiry and recommended a new comprehensive model of review and oversight and it is long past time to implement that important proposal,” he added. “It is too late for Mr. El Maati, but it’s not too late for others.”

“At a time when Canadian officials should have been doing everything they could to extricate Mr. El Maati from the terrifying human rights violations, today we learn of another way that they were instead contributing to his suffering,” said Alex Neve, Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada.

“Combined with what we already knew about Canadian complicity in torture, it is outrageous that the government adamantly continues to refuse to apologize and offer redress to Mr. El Maati, along with Abdullah Almalki and Muayyed Nureddin,” Neve added. “The government must stop their callous fight against these three men in the courts and do the right thing: say sorry and provide compensation.”

In December last year, the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security won majority support in a House of Commons vote for its recommendations that the government issue compensation and an apology to El Maati, Almalki and Nureddin, and implement the Arar Inquiry’s recommendation for a more robust system of checks and balances for agencies involved in national security investigations.

Since then, however, efforts at mediating a settlement for the men have collapsed because of a federal government position the men’s counsel say “eliminates any possibility of resolution.”

Today’s news adds to a long list of ways that Justice Iacobucci has already revealed that Canadian agencies contributed to Mr. El Maati’s detention and torture.

When his report was first released in October 2008, it revealed that Canadian officials had likely contributed to Mr. El Maati’s mistreatment and torture in Egypt in three other ways: CSIS sent a letter to Egyptian authorities labeling Mr. El Maati with unjustified allegations and expressing concern should he be released; the RCMP repeatedly requested the opportunity to interview Mr. El Maati in Egyptian custody; and the RCMP freely shared information with U.S. authorities that made its way into the hands of Egyptian interrogators.

The report also concluded that Canadian officials likely contributed to Mr. El Maati’s initial detention by Syrian authorities when they shared his travel itinerary with the FBI and CIA, and when, in communications with the Syrians, they labeled him as linked to terrorism without first ensuring the allegations were accurate or justified.

Justice Iacobucci has also already revealed that Canadian officials likely contributed to Mr. El Maati’s torture in Syria by supplying questions for his Syrian interrogators, and, when they received his “confession,” failing to advise consular affairs officials that they knew Mr. El Maati was in Syrian detention and had been interrogated.

The report also concluded that the actions of Canadian officials likely contributed to the detention and torture of Canadian citizen Muayyed Nureddin, and to the torture of Abdullah Almalki, both in Syria.

Click here for an overview of what we already knew from the Iacobucci Report.

Maher Arar has launched a new on-line magazine promoting critical analysis of national security issues. The goal of the magazine, called Prism, is to address issues outside the focus of mainstream media. Arar has invited several people to contribute including human rights advocates, lawyers and former journalists. Check it out here.

Maher Arar wants the U.S. Supreme Court to take up his case, saying he has “renewed hope” that lower court rulings will eventually be overturned. Those, he says, “essentially gave the government the green light to continue the abuse of its executive powers in matters related to National Security.” For more, see this news release issued Monday by the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights.

Here’s the news release from today’s event in Ottawa. You can check out video of the installation on Canada AM’s web site here.

Ottawa — Three Canadian torture survivors were at a news conference in Ottawa today to unveil an art installation depicting some of the suffering they endured in a Syrian military intelligence detention centre.

Created by Ottawa artist Jenn Farr and builder Erik Windfeld, “El Abbar” (the grave) is a life-size replica of one of the underground, tiny, dark cells at the now infamous Far’ Falastin (Palestine Branch) Syrian detention centre. Ahmad El Maati was locked into one of these cells for two and a half months before being sent to Egypt. Abdullah Almalki survived one year, three months and twenty-five days in the tiny space. Beside him, Maher Arar was locked up for ten months and ten days. Muayyed Nureddin was locked into an over-crowded “common” cell down the hall.

El Maati, Almalki and Nureddin said they hope the installation will help Canadians, and the government, better understand the horrors of torture.

“I think it is very difficult for anyone to truly comprehend the conditions I was kept in – the loss of control over every aspect of my life, the filth, the smell, the constant sounds of people being tortured, the constant fear that I would be next and the feeling of being buried alive,” said Almalki. “I hope this will at least get people thinking, and better understanding, the horrors of torture.”

More than a year ago the Iacobucci Inquiry concluded that Canadian agencies likely contributed to the torture of El Maati, Almalki and Nureddin by, for example, sending information and questions used in their interrogations in Syria, and in the case of El Maati, Egypt too. The Inquiry also found that allegations about the men shared with foreign agencies were variously inaccurate, inflammatory and without investigatory foundation.

Last week on December 3, all opposition parties voted in the House of Commons to support a Commons Public Safety Committee report calling on the government to compensate and formally apologize to El Maati, Almalki and Nureddin. Since then, however, news has emerged that efforts at mediating a settlement for the men have collapsed because of a federal government position the men’s counsel say “eliminates any possibility of resolution.”

“Over the past few weeks at the hearings into Afghan detainees, we’ve witnessed what can only be read as the government’s callous disregard for the human consequences of torture, and outright contempt for those seeking answers or justice,” said Alex Neve, Secretary General for Amnesty International.

“Now we’re outraged to learn that the government is refusing to accept responsibility for the role played by Canadian agencies in what happened to these men, and forcing them into the courts to fight for the apology and compensation that would help them rebuild their shattered lives,” he added.

The art installation was commissioned by Kerry Pither, the author of Dark Days, a book chronicling the men’s experiences and the Canadian investigations that targeted them.

“I’ve learned through these stories that it is almost impossible for anyone who hasn’t survived torture to fully comprehend how barbaric it is,” said Pither. “I hope that by just spending a few seconds standing inside this replica of the cell, people will be better able to imagine the horrors of spending months in a place like this.”

Pither used the proceeds from the Ottawa Book Award to pay for supplies, and Farr and Windfeld donated their labour. The modular installation will be made available to galleries across Canada in the new year.

The men were also joined at the news conference by NDP MP Don Davies, Liberal MP Mark Holland, and Bloc MP Serge Menard, who sat together on the Public Safety Committee that recommended the government compensate and apologize to the men, in addition to implementing a new system of checks and balances for security agencies that would help ensure that what happened to these men never happens again.